The End Results
by StoneLion
Summary: WD Fluff, Worf drags Jadzia through a Bajoran swamp in the middle of the night. How can that possibly be romantic?


"The End Results"  
  
Disclaimer: I am not Gene Roddenberry or Rick Berman. I have no money. Thus is the life of a college student. :-P  
  
"Worf," Dax cried as she balanced precariously on two thick branches thirty feet above the bubbling, belching Bajoran swamp. "What in the world made you think climbing through a swamp in the middle of a muggy summer night would be romantic?" She reached out and grabbed her husband's proffered hand, stepping gingerly onto a branch slightly lower than the one Worf occupied. Worf picked up the lantern he had set down to help his wife.  
  
"You will see," Worf said quietly and turned away from his wife to find another safe branch. Dax stared at her husband's back in frustration and placed on hand on her hip, the other holding tightly to a thin branch for balance.  
  
"Worf, I'm all for camping. I have no problem spending a weekend in the woods, but this is just punishment." Dax moved onto another a branch as Worf moved into another tree. Below them, the swamp burbled and strange frog-like creatures swam in circles and sang poems in the form of squeaks and squeals to potential mates. Small insects buzzed around them, biting any area of exposed flesh and animals scrambled around the treetops to avoid the two. "Why can't we be like a normal couple and go to Risa?" Dax complained, sending a shower of twigs to the frog-like creatures below in her haste to hop onto another branch. She glared at Worf when he looked back over his shoulder at her.  
  
"We did go to Risa," Worf reminded her. Dax said nothing for a few moments except to grunt as she battled the trees. The animals' night song surrounded them and stars twinkled above, no moon in sight.  
  
"Worf –" Dax stopped midsentence when the branch she stood on creaked ominously. "Worf!" Dax cried as she tried to scramble onto another stronger branch. The Klingon whirled around as Dax fell and reached out a hand to try to catch her, but only grabbed air and watched as his wife plummeted toward the swamp.  
  
Seconds later, Dax landed in the muck and the night symphony of life crashed to a halt with loud croaks and squeals and screams of distress. The water burbled for a moment before Dax sputtered out of the goop.  
  
"Jadzia, are you hurt?" Worf called from the darkness of the treetops. She could hear him moving around in the branches. Dax looked around, the murky water lapped around her breasts and below she could feel the chill of mud up to her knees.  
  
"Worf, what the hell is worth all of this?" Dax cried into the trees. She stared into the branches for a moment until she located her husband's form moving with a deftness that one wouldn't expect in one so large. A moment later, Worf jumped from a low branch into the muck nearby. The muck near the tree wasn't nearly as deep. Worf sunk into the water only up to his knees.  
  
"You are unhurt," Worf said surely, giving her a slight smile as she squirmed in the muck and tried to free herself while retaining as much of her dignity as possible. Dax grunted and wrapped her hands around her left knee in an attempt to free herself. No go.  
  
"I'm stuck," Dax said quietly. She glanced down at the water, specks of dirt, leaves and tiny twigs spun around in the mess. Then she looked at her husband. Worf grabbed the base of the trees and a long stick floating in the water nearby and held it out toward her.  
  
"Grab it." Worf ordered and Dax reached. Dax couldn't help but smile when her fingers wrapped around the wet wood. She watched as Worf started to lean back, holding onto the stick and trying to pull her out of mud. The mud made it tough, but eventually Worf managed to pull Dax out of the mud enough that she could swim over to him and she frowned at her.  
  
"Why are we doing this?" Dax asked. She glared at her husband, dripping warm, stinking swamp water, sticks stuck in her hair, mud smudged on her cheek. Worf sighed and looked her over for a moment before answering.  
  
"We are almost there," he said. Dax frowned and began gesturing wildly.  
  
"Worf, where is there? I've been following you through the goddamned swamp since midnight! Tell me where we're going!" Dax demanded. Worf sighed loudly and pulled himself back into the tree and then offered a hand down to Dax who folded her arms and looked away.  
  
"Jadzia, please, we are almost there, and we need to hurry." Worf told her. After a moment, Dax looked up and him and took his hand, although she continued to grumble.  
  
For several silent moments they worked through the trees and then abruptly the swamp came to an end. Worf jumped out of the last tree and turned, gallantly to offer Dax a hand down. Still slightly upset at her husband, Dax climbed out of the tree herself.  
  
"We are going to the top of that hill." Worf said and pointed to the top of a dark mound. He started walking and Dax followed him, swatting at insects fluttering around.  
  
"There'd better be a goddamned spa at the top of this hill, Worf!" Dax threatened.  
  
Moments later, Dax reached the top of the hill and Worf placed his hands over her shoulders. The hill rose up over a lake and in the distance, the sun had started rising and was barely peaking over the horizon. The lake shone silver in the light and the sky was purple and pink and bright orange moving closer to the horizon.  
  
"Worf," Dax said breathlessly, her eyes wide at the sight.  
  
"Would you still like to go to Risa?" Worf asked with a small smile on his lips. Dax looked at him in surprise for the small joke and leaned against him.  
  
"No, right here is fine," Dax said softly. They watched in silence for a moment and then Dax shifted in his arms to look at him once again. "I'm sorry for being so grumpy earlier." Dax told him.  
  
"It is all right," Worf said and he smiled warmly at his wife. Dax smiled back.  
  
"For all that," Dax said truthfully, "the end results were worth it, and what we have here is much better than anything on Risa."  
  
-End 


End file.
